One shot, others arrested on south side

Shooting incident kept streets closed for hours.

South Avenue and other streets in south La Crosse were finally cleared around 1 a.m. Thursday, ending a stand-off which began with a shooting about eight hours earlier.  

One man was shot in the leg, and four people are facing charges for the incident that happened close to the A&W on South Ave.

The last of the suspects was captured early today, after police attempts to get him out of a second-floor apartment.

A witness from the neighborhood, Vayou Yang, said he heard five or six gunshots in a row, and saw two people running, including the man who had been shot.

Names of those involved have not been released.

Police had blocked off a section of South Ave. from Ward Ave. to West Ave. along with some side streets during the incident.

 

Earlier story

Vayou Yang lives across the road from Pizza King on South Ave., where he first heard shots fired around 5 p.m.

“I was walking across my driveway here to throw something in the dumpster and, right when I got to the dumpster, I heard, probably 5-6 gunshots,” Yang said. “Right in a row, boom boom boom boom.”

Yang wasn’t quite sure if they were gunshots at first, as he often hears roofers working, and it sounded somewhat similar.

But, seconds later, Yang saw a squad car speed by his house before a man and a woman appeared near the A&W.

“The female just took off running but the male was hit in the left leg for sure, because he was hobbling,” Yang said. “So, I’m like, ‘OK, that’s gunshots.’ 

“So I went in the house, took cover. Locked the doors. Tried calling the police but couldn’t get through.”

Yang later said he called his wife, who had the kids, first, as they had left not more than a few minutes before he heard the shots.

But, it wasn’t long before he finally got through to police.

“By the time he got to the Pizza King, I finally got dispatch on the phone and told them, ‘You need to get someone over here quick, I think there’s a gentleman that’s been shot in the leg. There’s some gunshots outside my house. You need to get someone down here ASAP! He just walked into Pizza King!'” Yang said, reenacting the conversation with emotion. “They’re like, ‘Are you sure?’

“And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m standing across the street in my house. He’s in there!'”

Yang then gave dispatch a description of the man.

“Within a matter of, maybe 20 seconds, cops swarmed in, guns drawn and that was it,” he said.

Other witnesses said police arrested a woman on the west side of South Ave. and another person behind the A&W.

Squad cars had traffic blocked off in every direction, while police had the area behind the A&W surrounded.

People traveling on the city’s south side were diverted from the area by police.

Officers reportedly were looking for people connected to the shooting in the area of Trane Park, extending the search north toward Green Bay St.